The Evergreen Park Public Library and Evergreen Park Community High School are teaming up to organize a literary festival for teens.

Tina Ward, media specialist at the high school, and Mary Black, teen librarian at the library, are planning the Young Adult Literary Festival for March 16 at the library. But first they have to find a way to bring in authors who have ignited a love of reading in young people.

They’re hoping to attract keynote speakers who students have identified as favorites, such as Arshay Cooper, Kwame Alexander and Angeline Bouley. Other authors they’re hoping to bring to Evergreen Park include Jason Reynolds, Ellen Hopkins, James Klice and Dominican American poet and writer Elizabeth Acevedo.

Preliminary plans for the festival include an opening presentation with authors on stage to describe their books and then smaller groups led by individual authors, offering readers choices on which they want to attend. If funding allows, each teen will get to take home an autographed book by the author they listen to.

The cost of bringing authors to events such as this averages $3,500 to 5000, in addition to travel expenses, according to Black. So they’ve set a fundraising goal of $20,000, which would also cover operation costs and book bags, totes or T-shirts for teen attendees.

“There’s a decline in reading overall,” Black said. “We see kids on devices and it’s harder for them to focus on longer reading. And that’s critical to understanding complex issues. Scrolling is creating problems for reading, because you’re reading things on social media and you’re reading blurbs.”

The festival is for 12-to-18 year-olds but the entire community will be welcome.

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“We want it to be a really big event,” Black said.

Ward and Black already have collaborated on many events, including author visits, and school and library programs such as Food and Fiction, Summer Reading, Poetry Workshop and a Community Read and Poetry Slam.

“I think what’s so interesting about us is that all of our students are residents of Evergreen Park, so therefore we have the ability to partner quite often because all of my students are their (the library’s) patrons,” Ward said. “When they enter our school, they get a library card on the back of their identification card.”

Ward said sharing the library online databases with students helped encourage reading, whether making it easier to find and research material or finding out about community events.

“Studies have shown the more books people have in their homes, the more likely they are to read them,” said Ward. “…. Just to keep fostering that love of reading.”

The organizers noted they are hoping to share that love of reading through the festival beyond Evergreen Park’s borders, and it will not be restricted to residents. And they’re hoping to attract sponsors from the wider area as well. Sponsorship forms are at the library and high school, and organizers are sending out letters about the event and posting details on social media. Donations can be made at Evergreen Park Public Library, 9400 S. Troy Ave., or online at evergreenparklibrary.org/events/ever-read.

Janice Neumann is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.